


What's in a name

by Gweiddi_at_Ecate



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Missing Moment - ish, Other, The Enchanted Forest, heartless!Huntsman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 19:58:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15758649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gweiddi_at_Ecate/pseuds/Gweiddi_at_Ecate
Summary: In which two hunters meet by accident in the middle of the forest.





	What's in a name

**Author's Note:**

> I should be studying, not translating into English stuff I wrote tons of years ago.  
> Oh well, look at my life, look at my choices.  
> (Honestly, RedHunter has been my first and most beloved OTP in this tv-show and I'm still so bitter about Graham's fate or lack of thereof.)

He took off his glove and laid his hand on the tree trunk, enjoying the feeling of the damp moss against his skin.

How he had missed that simple sensation.

The queen had been keeping him in the castle for longer time periods, and the imposing walls of marble and granite overwhelmed him. The wolf who always accompanied him kept his distance from the city and the sovereign, so the Huntsman had nothing and no one to count on to avoid slipping into apathy.

Being incapable of feeling anything was consuming him.

He was never afraid, nothing enraged him or insulted him. He couldn’t smile. He had never done it very often even before, but not being able to do that anymore was aggrieving. Actually, no, it wasn’t, because he could only understand, he could only imagine that it was supposed to be painful, without being truly capable of feeling grief.

In that muffled, empty world, only the forest still brought him peace.

When he believed he was about to go mad, going back to the woods soothed him. There was still a subtle and yet perceivable difference between lurking inside the palace and being at ease among the trees. It was like putting back on some old clothes that time and use had made comfortable.

Going back to the forest also meant seeing a friend. The wolf was always waiting for him beyond the first row of trees, as though he knew beforehand that the Huntsman would arrive.

With his eyes closed, he inhaled deeply, and the strong smell of dirt, moss, and leaves filled his lungs, invigorating his thoughts.

The wolf suddenly lifted his nose to sniff the air, catching an odd trace among the mix of gamy scents, and he pounced forwards.

The Huntsman followed him, running, and trying not to trip on the protruding roots of the old trees.

For a short moment, he lost sight of the wolf, and when he quickened his step to find him again, he caught him sitting at the feet of a girl clad in a red cloak.

She knelt on the ground and petted the wolf.

The view amazed him: through all the years they had always been together, the huntsman had never thought of putting his hand on the thick, white fur of the wolf. He would have found it disrespectful. Yet, the stranger had raised her face towards him, smiling at him, and she had kept petting the animal. The wolf was pressing his muzzle against her, filling his nose with her scent.

“Hello,” she greeted him. She stood up, and her hood slipped down on her shoulders, revealing long black locks. “Does the wolf belong to you?”

The Huntsman stepped closer, frowning.

“Wolves belong to no one.”

He didn’t want to come off as harsh, but he sounded so anyway. However, the girl didn’t take offence: her smile widened, and her gaze softened.

“You’re right, they don’t.”

The Huntsman didn’t say anything, and the girl appeared to sense the awkwardness in his silence. She watched the wolf going back at his side and she held out her hand.

“I’m Red,” she introduced herself.

The Huntsman took her hand, and his leather glove creaked against her bare skin.

“That’s a strange name.”

Red shrugged mindlessly. “It’s the one that I like better. What’s yours?”

He hesitated.

“I’m the Huntsman.”

The girl quirked her eyebrow, amused. “Being a huntsman doesn’t deprive you of your right to a name.”

Her words shook him. He couldn’t tell why exactly, but they did.

He let his hand slip away from Red’s gentle grip.

“Graham. My name is Graham.”

He decided it at that moment. He had never needed a name, and being raised by the wolves he had never known how his parents used to call him. For everyone, he had always been the Huntsman. They knew of him, were aware of his reputation, and no one had ever asked for his name. Yet, _Graham_ belonged to him from the moment he uttered it.

Red’s eyes glimmered.

“See? It wasn’t hard, was it?” she tittered.

“What are you doing in the forest?” he asked.

“I’m looking for a friend,” she said. “She had to leave before she could tell me where we were supposed to meet.”

Graham mulled over it for a moment.

“Do you have any idea how to find her?”

Red grinned, and for a brief instant, her face glowed with something feral.

“It’s not hard when you know what to look for.”

He liked the girl’s attitude. He saw the instincts of the hunter in her, the same instincts he recognised within himself and the wolves. It was strange, because he had never met any other person who would send him those vibes.

He fancied himself close to Red. Alike. He had the impression that her company would feel very much like being in the forest: she could give him peace.

“If you want, I can help you,” he offered.

She seemed intrigued, rather than surprised.

“Why would you do that?”

He gestured towards the wolf. “He likes you. It’s as if he knew you.”

Apparently, that was enough for Red.

“Fine, but we’ll have to move quickly. There are people who must not find me.”

Graham nodded.

“I don’t want to be found either.”

The girl smiled brightly at him.

“Then it’s perfect. We’ll make a good team.”

He wished he could smile back, that he could feel a kind of happiness that would make him laugh as Red was doing.

The frustration was something akin to an itch inside his chest.

“Your friend… what’s her name?”

Red assessed him with a pensive look before answering. She stretched her hand towards the wolf, and when it didn’t move away from her, she seemed more serene.

“Snow White.”

 


End file.
